United Auto Body & Paint

Review: My car's door handle was damaged and I made an insurance claim with AAA. I have a $100 deductible with AAA insurance. I selected United Auto Body as the repair shop to repair the door handle damage. United Auto Body has a coupon on their website offering a $100 discount off a customer's deductible. Since my deductible was only $100, and the coupon offered a $100 discount off a customer's deductible, this means I would pay $0 for my car's door handle repair. This coupon can be found at http://www.unitedab.com/coupons-san-diego-ca

On 5/6/14, I dropped my car off at United Auto Body and I presented the $100 coupon. The owner, [redacted], told me that the coupon only applies to collision damage, and refused to accept the coupon. I took him at his word, and I dropped the car off for repair. I then came home and looked at the coupon again and noticed that it does not say anywhere that the coupon applies only to collision damage. The coupon simply says "get $100 off your deductible when you present this coupon at United Auto Body" and indicates an expiration date of 5/31/14. None of the terms and conditions on the coupon page state that the coupon is limited only to collision damage. Therefore, Mr. [redacted]'s statement that the coupon only applies to collision damage was a misrepresentation.

On 5/8/14, I went to United Auto Body to pick my car up after its door handle repair. Mr. [redacted], still not honoring his coupon, attempted to charge me $100 for my insurance deductible since my insurance had paid the rest. Wanting to get my car, I had no choice but to give him my credit card. I intended to dispute the charge with my credit card company based on the coupon. Mr. [redacted] then accidentally charged $10 to the credit card instead of $100 and did not notice it. I noticed his mistake but did not say anything, and I signed the $10 charge slip. I still intended to dispute the $10 charge with my credit card company based on his coupon.

The next day, Mr. [redacted] caught his mistaken $10 charge and called me saying that I owed him the $90 difference. I then called him back and explained that his coupon does not state that it only applies to "collision" damage. Mr. [redacted] then got somewhat upset and stated to me "Are you going to make good on this or not?" Apparently, Mr. [redacted] did not want to "make good" on his own coupon. When I told Mr. [redacted] that I did not owe him anything because of his $100 coupon, he stated to me that he would let this go. However, he did not refund the $10 he charged me. I have since put in a dispute for that $10 charge with my credit card company. I also never received a receipt for the work performed from United Auto Body. All I received was his preliminary repair estimate, not the actual repair order showing the work done and the amounts charged. He stapled this preliminary repair estimate to the $10 receipt on 5/8/14 when I picked the car up. I never received an actual receipt/invoice for the actual repairs.

Since United Auto Body is a Revdex.com member, I felt it would be prudent to file this complaint with the Revdex.com against United Auto Body. It is false advertising to say to customers that they will receive a $100 discount off their deductible with a coupon, only to be told by Mr. [redacted] at the time of drop off that this discount only applies to "collision" damage, when it clearly does not only apply to collision damage according to what the coupon states. This is an unfair business practice and is not good business ethics.

I do not have any personal problem with Mr. [redacted]. He was helpful and cooperative in the repair of my vehicle. My only problem is with his misrepresentation about his coupon and the fact that I never got an actual receipt for his repair work. Therefore, I felt I should bring this to the Revdex.com's attention.Desired Settlement: If Mr. [redacted] is willing to accept that he misrepresented to me, refund my $10, accept responsibility for his misrepresentation, and provide me an actual receipt for the repair work, then I might be willing to bring him future repairs where he will make back much more than his $100. He appears to be a good man, with the exception of this coupon and not providing a receipt. I am hoping he can move past this issue and we can consider a future business relationship. Mr. [redacted], I have no hard feelings for you, but please don't put coupons on your website and then refuse to accept them when the customer presents them for a repair. This is not good business ethics and negatively affects your reputation. If you accept that you misrepresented to me, and hold no hard feelings, and refund the $10, then I might be willing to still come to your shop for repairs in the future. I am not mad. I hope you aren't either. It's only $100, and you will make it back and more on future repairs if we can work together amicably. Also, I will need a receipt for the repair you did on 5/8/14.

TO THE Revdex.com: please let Mr. [redacted] read this. Thanks.

Business

Response:

The terms and conditions did not appear on the

printer-friendly version of the coupon.

The coupon has since been removed from our website to avoid other

potential issues until our web company can resolve why the terms are not

printing up on the coupon page.

[redacted] presented the coupon prior to leaving his

vehicle for repairs. I explained to him

that he could not use the coupon for the type of repair that he was attempting

to redeem it for. He seemed to

understand and agree that he could not use the coupon for the repairs, and he still

opted to get his vehicle fixed. I rang

up the transaction for $10 instead of $100.

Mr. [redacted] was aware of the credit card transaction mistake of $90, and

he acknowledges this in his complaint. He

declined to pay the $90, and I waived those charges during a phone conversation

with him. His chargeback request of $10

will not be disputed.

Mr. [redacted] was presented with a copy of the work authorization

that he signed, the estimate for repairs, and a copy of his signed credit card

receipt. There is no other paperwork to

provide to him.

Consumer

Response:

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and have determined that this proposed action would not resolve my complaint. For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.

Regards,

Mr. [redacted] writes in his response that "the terms and conditions did not appear on the printer-friendly version of this coupon. The coupon has since been removed from our website to avoid other potential issues until our web company can resolve why the terms are not printing up on the coupon page."

This is not true. United Auto Body is now representing that "the terms and conditions did not appear on the printer-friendly version of this coupon". This is not true at all. United Auto Body's coupon page did not say anywhere in its terms and conditions that the coupon was limited to only "collision" damage. This has nothing to do with a "printer friendly version" not printing up all the terms and conditions of the coupon page. The coupon page itself did not say in any of its terms and conditions that it applied only to "collision" damage. United Auto Body now represents that the terms and conditions of the coupon page that limited the coupon to only "collision" damage were there, but that they did not "print up" on the "printer friendly" version of the coupon. This is completely false. NO SUCH TERMS OR CONDITIONS LIMITING THE COUPON TO "COLLISION" DAMAGE WHERE ON THE COUPON PAGE AT ALL. This is not a "printer friendly" printing problem. United Auto Body is making a misrepresentation.

After this coupon issue occurred between myself and United Auto Body, they removed the coupon from their website. A few days later, they put the coupon back on their website with NO CHANGES to its terms and conditions. The Bureau of Automotive Repair saw the coupon after United Auto Body had put it back up, and saw that the terms and conditions of the coupon did not say anywhere that it applied to only "collision" damage. When the Bureau of Automotive Repair contacted them about this after I complained to them, United Auto Body then removed its coupon once again from its website. So far, they have not put the coupon back on their website with changes to its terms and conditions that limit the coupon to only "collision" damage. Instead, there is no coupon on the website at all. If this was a "printer-friendly" printing problem, a new coupon would be put on the website. Instead, NO COUPON is on the website at all.

Secondly, United Auto Body says in their response that "[redacted] presented the coupon prior to leaving the vehicle for repairs. I explained to him that he could not use the coupon for the type of repair that he was attempting to redeem it for. He seemed to understand and agree that he could not use the coupon for repairs, and he still opted to get the vehicle fixed." This is not true. I did not "understand and agree that I could not use the coupon for repairs, and still opted to get the vehicle fixed." When Mr. [redacted] told me that the coupon was only limited to "collision" damage, I thought I hadn't read the terms and conditions of the coupon closely enough and thought I had overlooked something that limited the coupon to only "collision" damage. Therefore, I took Mr. [redacted]'s word that the coupon was limited to only "collision" damage. I assumed that Mr. [redacted], being the owner of United Auto Body, would know the terms and conditions of his own coupon better than I would.

It wasn't until I got home and double checked the coupon's terms and conditions that I saw there was no mention of it being limited to only "collision" damage in its terms and conditions. At that point, I realized that Mr. [redacted]'s representation of being limited to only "collision" damage was not true. Therefore, United Auto Body's response that I "seemed to understand and agree that he could not use the coupon for repairs, and he still opted to get the vehicle fixed" is not true, and is a misunderstanding and misrepresentation of what occurred. Furthermore, why would Mr. [redacted] suddenly change the terms and conditions of his coupon upon its presentation to him, claiming that the coupon is only limited to "collision" damage, when the written terms and conditions on the coupon page do not say anywhere that the coupon is limited to only "collision" damage?

Mr. [redacted] has failed to honor his coupon, and is now covering himself by trying to say it was a "printer friendly" printing problem that didn't print all the terms and conditions that were there, and that I "seemed to understand and agree" that I could not use the coupon for repairs, and still opted to get my vehicle fixed. Neither of these representations are true for the reasons stated above. The Revdex.com should reprimand United Auto Body for this failure to honor a coupon and misrepresentation to try to cover it up. A record should be kept of this conduct by United Auto Body. This is ridiculous.

United Auto Body has a Revdex.com Ethics Award sitting on Mr. [redacted]'s desk, and yet Mr. [redacted] won't even honor a simple coupon. I don't see how United Auto Body gets an ethics award from the Revdex.com when their conduct in this situation has been completely unethical.

Business

Response:

RevDex.com

4747

Viewridge Ave # 200

San Diego,

CA 92123

Complaint ID: [redacted]

We are hereby responding to Mr. [redacted] (consumer's)

allegations. It is important for us to mention that we have an outstanding

reputation in the community and pride ourselves in customer service and keeping

our customers happy.

We did not charge Mr, [redacted] the additional $90.00 for his

repair deductible and we did not dispute his $10.00 charge back on his credit

card. Mr. [redacted] was going to dispute the charge and we assured him that

we would not dispute it on our end, so he could get his $10.00 back. If he has

not done so, please let us know and we will reimburse him the $10.00.

We hope that we can put all his behind us. We apologize for

any inconvenience it may have caused.

Thank you.

United

Auto Body